The problem with reading collections of short stories by many different authors is that there's likely to be a lot of inconsistency. Such was definiteThe problem with reading collections of short stories by many different authors is that there's likely to be a lot of inconsistency. Such was definitely the case here. Some of the stories were absolute dreck, some were ok, some were actually pretty good, and at least one was excellent. Unfortunately, the excellent one was the last one in the book, and it was only barely worth it to read all the stories that came before it to get to that one....more

I've read enough romance novels to know that there is usually a formula, and the formula is so plain that many people think that anyone could write onI've read enough romance novels to know that there is usually a formula, and the formula is so plain that many people think that anyone could write one. Apparently, Susan Anne Mason falls into that category. Unfortunately, she's wrong. She adheres to the formula admirably well (young people hopelessly in love but horribly unsuited to each other because of class differences? check. forbidding father? check. conflict to keep the lovers apart in the middle of the book? check. conveniently timed illness to shift the plot onto different rails? check.), but the writing is so trite and predictable, it's almost painful to read. Fortunately, it also has the required happy ending, which doesn't even seem particularly contrived, so there were warm-fuzzies all around. It wasn't enough to make up for writing that preceded it, but, you know, all's well that ends well....more